Georgia: Ethnic Georgian District in Abkhazia Becomes Election Issue

For many in the breakaway region of Abkhazia, Russian recognition of Abkhazia's independence means the promise of economic development and a guarantee of security against Georgia. But in Abkhazia's predominantly ethnic Georgian district of Gali, Russian recognition has come to mean renewed emphasis on assimilation into Abkhaz society.

The territory's de facto foreign ministry calls integration a priority, but has no concrete blueprint for how to achieve it. Last year, the Abkhaz government began a campaign of persuading Gali Georgians to adopt Abkhaz citizenship. Now, with presidential elections just three months away, politics has entered the mix.

Without Abkhaz citizenship, residents cannot vote. But with it, they must give up their Georgian passports.

Abkhaz diplomats describe the issue as a paradox. "It's a complicated situation," said de facto Deputy Foreign Minister Maxim Gundjia. "The Abkhaz constitution provides for dual citizenship with only Russia. [But] [e]ven if a Georgian tore up his passport in my office, there is no guarantee he won't go to Zugdidi and get a new one."

Official estimates place the number of current Abkhaz passport holders in Gali at 2,000, although others reckon the number to be closer to 4,000. According to UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency, approximately 45,000 Georgians have returned to Gali since the end of fighting between Georgian forces and Abkhaz separatists in 1994.

An amendment to the law on citizenship, which would have made thousands of Gali Georgians eligible for Abkhaz passports, was scrapped on August 6 by the region's parliament. The change would have allowed those Georgians who had returned before 2005 to their pre-war residences in Gali to hold Abkhaz citizenship if they had not fought against the Abkhaz government, were not "connected with terrorist activities," and did not seek the government's overthrow.

Without such a provision, Gali could become "a reservation," warned de facto Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Irina Agrba, the Apsnypress news agency reported.

Opposition leaders, including former de facto vice president Raul Khadjimba, claimed the change threatened Abkhazia's ethnic make-up since "at this moment, there are as many citizens of Abkhazia of Georgian ethnicity as there are of Abkhaz ethnicity," he said. Ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia are believed to be an extreme minority after the 1992-1994 war that drove tens of thousands from their homes.

Leon Adzhinzhal, spokesperson for the Party of Economic Development, whose chairman, Beslan Butba, will run against de facto President Sergei Bagapsh in Abkhazia's December 12 presidential elections, called the bill's defeat a "great victory for the opposition."

Once Russian troops have fortified Abkhazia's border, Gali's Georgians will eventually have to make a choice about their homeland - Georgia or Abkhazia, Adzhinzhal said. Russian troops have already moved to block hidden border crossings that skirt the Abkhaz border post on the Inguri River between Gali and the Georgian region of Samegrelo.

But some Abkhaz see another reason why the opposition is glad the citizenship bill was defeated. "The opposition is afraid Gali will vote for Bagapsh," commented freelance journalist Rosita German, reflecting a sentiment echoed by others interviewed by EurasiaNet. Abkhaz opposition members in the past portrayed Bagapsh as pro-Georgian - in part, a shaded reference to his wife, who is an ethnic Georgian. The Abkhaz leader has angrily denied the allegation.

One Gali resident, however, takes a pragmatic stance. "We'll vote for whoever fixes the road," said a driver who gave his name as Roma. The government has pledged to mend Gali's badly potholed roads in 2010.

The defeated amendment appears to not have affected the passport registration process in the town of Gali, where people continue to line up at the mayor's office for Abkhaz citizenship.

"Nothing has changed," said Gali Mayor Vaho Marghania. "Passports are given to people who have been here since 1994 [when the war with Georgia ended]."

With an Abkhaz passport, Gali's ethnic Georgians can own property, register an automobile, run a legitimate business, or, moreover, hold dual Russian citizenship, which locals say would entitle them to Russian pensions of up to 4,000 rubles ($126) a month.

But those incentives provide little in the way of fast solutions for the sense among many locals that they do not stand on equal footing with their Abkhaz neighbors. Although ethnic Georgians make up the majority of Gali's population, ethnic Abkhaz hold almost all key administrative positions.

"It's apartheid here," one local man complained. Other local Georgians characterize certain Abkhaz officials as "fair," and express strong respect for the late security chief Jansukh Muratia, who was killed in a July 2008 explosion. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive.]

Grinding poverty and security concerns add to the difficulties. Most Gali residents are registered in Georgia as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs); for many, the small, 28-lari (about $16.60) monthly allowance they receive is their sole source of income. With the June shutdown of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia in Gali, another 208 local jobs have dried up.

Meanwhile, Gali Mayor Marghania claimed that the presence of Russian border troops was improving the local security atmosphere. "Gali people were afraid of Georgian aggression, because it was like a buffer zone. Now they're confident in the secure reality," he said. "Little, by little, things are getting better."

Georgian local Mindia Abshilava points at the former Russian peacekeeper base - now an elementary school -- where his children will be attending school this month. "We just want to live in our homes like normal people," said Abshilava.